American History

The American Revolution also referred to as the revolutionary war, was one of the most important events in the American history. Without the war, the United States of American may not have been what it is today. The process of revolution was facilitated by various events among them the French and the Indian wars. This was one of the series of wars which was fought between the British and the French as early as 1600s. The French-India war began in 1754 and was finished in 1763. The British soldiers were fighting the French soldiers and those of Native Americans. The Native American soldiers decided to defend the French soldiers due to fear that the British soldiers would invade their land. The war came to an end in the year 1759 when the British major general James Wolfe captured Quebec. The war resulted in a peace treaty of 1763 where the British got major portion of the French land in North America. The British also decided to start taxing the colonialist so that they could pay for the war (Harper, 2008).

One of the major causes of colonial discontent with the British was the navigation Act. In the early years of settlement, the colonies were ignored in England. In the first ever meeting in the Virginia assembly, the colonists were expecting the same treatment they were having in England. There was also establishment of self government by the House of Burgesses. By the year 1750, each colony had its own elected assembly. The main purpose of the Navigation Act was to enable England establish self independent empire whereby they would serve as the manufacturing nation, colonies would provide raw materials at the same time act as the market for English ready goods, and create and maintain wealth through careful control of trade (Harper, 2008).

The colonies reacted differently to this Act. Southern colonies shipped their produce to England for sale middle colonies shipped their grain to English sugar plantations in West Indies. These reactions did not favor new England colonies because they could not fit well in the trade system since they lacked crops to export, smuggled goods to other countries and gained wealth by building ships, practicing fishing, and engaging in illegal trade. These events resulted into tension between England and the colonies and also England and America (Harper, 2008).

The term mercantilism is the practice of gaining wealth through control of trade. The contribution of the British mercantilism to the American Revolution has been disputed by many historians. There are several questions which need to be tackled before deciding whether it had an effect on the revolution. One of the questions frequently asked is whether the Navigation Act slowed the growing American economy or it encouraged it through reliable market for their products. The main aim of mercantilism was to unify and boost the power of British by stringent regulation of the economy, through their policies which were meant to accumulate wealth in all sectors of the economy. The navigation act was so domineering therefore it acted as a basic cause for American Revolution.

No taxation without representation was a slogan which was coined by the British colonist between the years 1763-1776. It was a way of airing their grievances that without direct representation in the British parliament they were denied their rights as Englishmen and therefore laws allowing taxation of the colonist and other laws which were affecting the colonist alone were illegal. The parliament was regulating colonial trade and collecting taxes from the imports and exports and this resulted in denying the Americans their historic rights. Resolutions were made in Virginia which implied that Americans should be treated equally as Englishmen and the slogan became part of the British laws (Harper, 2008).

The theory of virtual representation was not favored by the British. It was fully rejected by the colonies which described it as a cover for political corruption and could not match with their republic belief that the government gets its fair powers from the ideas of the people.

Virtually all the above discussed factors contributed to the American Revolution. The British government reacted to the Boston tea party by enacting four laws which were later described by the colonies as the intolerable acts.  The acts allowed the British to close the Boston harbor, forced the Boston people to pay for the lost tea and also the taxes, Massachusetts elected government was also replaced by the council members appointed by the king. Governor got the powers to control public meetings, justice laws were also changed with the people charged with violent crimes being charged in England. Quartering act was widened with the British soldiers being accommodated in private homes. Colonies claim to land was later thwarted through extension of Quebec act.